First up was Cube Cross #1 in Rexburg. The guys in Rexburg have this great park with narrow paved paths, lots of grass, some good run-up opportunites, and some tight little singletrack in which to lay out an ever-changing array of courses. And they don't dissapoint. This race had some super technical stuff with some off-camber singletrack that ran about 6 feet above a pond, a steep downhill that should probably be a run-up, and some tricky corners (made hard by wet dead leaves).
I got off to a good start and made sure I was in good position going into the singletrack the first time around. It was a pretty big group with the Men's Advanced and Men's Beginner racing together, but things started to get sorted out pretty fast after a lap and I found myself sitting in 6th positon and dueling with another guy for 5th. I finally got the best of him on the barriers and stretched it out all the way to the finish. Notched a soild 5th place in the Men's Beginner class picking up 21pts for the overall.
The next weekend it was off to Boise for a family weekend where I got to sneak in a cross race over in Nampa. I knew this was going to be a big race (stop #4 of the SICX series), but didn't really put much stock in a good result considering I was coming "off the couch" for these last races. I'd done very little training in the weeks since Spooky cross due to some very inclimate weather and lack of daylight.
A field of 40 (Mens 4, Masters 45+) or so lined up at the start and thinking I was really not in contention for much, I lined up at the back. The course was really just a grass road race, not one dismount, so wasn't going to suit me in any way. About the only thing I had going for me was the weather. It was a cool 31F at the start, only warming up to about 35F by the time we finished. After a chaotic start, I again rode on the back of the second group for the first lap, before finally letting them go. I dueled with a young guy for the next two laps before he got the better of me on the long hill. I set my sights on another rider we had been closing in on and finally caught him with one to go. I rode on that guy for half a lap or so and dispatched him on a steep hill in the middle of the course. I held him off to take 20th on the day. Not too bad, and I kinda felt like a chump for not taking things alittle more serious.
One week later was round 3 of the Cube Series. I knew I wasn't going to be in contention for the overall having missed a race, but after waking up that morning to 3 inches of fresh snow, I knew it was going to be epic race. I could not have done a worse job preparing myself for the race; hungover from a party the night before, missing breakfast cause I was racing around trying to find my stuff, getting to the race only 40mins before the start due to winter driving, etc., etc. Funny thing was, I felt good. I was layered up well and ready to go by the time we started. Again we had a solidly technical course with good single track, a steep run up (the one we came down before), and lots of corners into barriers to make it hard.
And if all that wasn't enough...then came the weather.
When we started, it was cold an windy, but not much moisture to speak of. The course had some wet spots, but nothing to really worry about. 20 mins. into the race, the first bits of hail started to spit from the sky. 5 min later, the gropple was blowing sideways, stinging the face and making it hard to look up to see where you were going.
I had been battling with a guy in front of me for the first half the race, and now found myself trying to hold off a challenge from behind me. I put in one big effort into the headwind and got the gap I needed to hold onto my postion. With two laps to go, the snow went nuclear. With one lap to go, the snow had collected a good three inches making the course a thick soup of slushy water.
One thing is for sure, I felt like a complete badass after that one.
